Flathound Realty

If there’s one positive thing I can say about Flathound Realty, it’s that they are extremely consistent. Consistently bad.
After reading all the reviews over the past 5 years, it looks like my experience was par for the course.
I worked with Mike Weafer twice and Roger once, who is definitely still employed by Flathound despite what a 2010 review says. Neither of them did any work from what I can tell, other than to draft standard lease documents and take thousands of my dollars, in order to live in a halfway decent Cambridge apartment. The one time Roger showed our apartment, he spent the majority of the appointment texting and taking pictures, while I showed the apartment to prospective tenants. He then had the audacity to tell me under his breath «I hate them», of his prospects. Then he continued belittling them… to their face and over the phone, from what they told me.
tl;dr Flathound Realty is not worth your time or commission, and their employees have been lazy and rude to me, eight of friends, and apparently the rest of Unilocal

A couple weeks back we found out the rent was going up to an uncomfortable level. We then went into a whirlwind of Boston realtors showing us garbage for our money. They would not listen to us and would not listen to our price range. One guy even showed us the same crappy Fenway apartments AFTER TELLING HIM WE HAD ALREADY SEEN IT.
Anyway, through a link through a link I met Roger. Finally a breath of fresh air: Roger didn’t show us the same crap, understood what we were looking for is what we were looking for, and understood our max price was our max price, not a suggestion.
I highly encourage anyone to work with Roger. He listens to what you want and applies it to your search (sadly something that is a rare virtue in the Boston Rental Market) and doesn’t waste your time. I highly recommend Flathound.

This place is the biggest group of unprofessional, lazy people ever. They are by no means helpful and try their best to do the LEAST amount of work possible. They’re inconsistent with their information (ex. I was told one thing over the phone and then told otherwise in person… BY THE SAME PERSON). Not only are they lazy with their clients, I was trying to find a subletter for my apartment and showing a potential candidate at 8:30 am on a Saturday. THE BROKER REFUSED TO COME INTO THE CITY THAT EARLY BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO WAKE UP THAT EARLY ON A WEEKEND. Are you kidding me? You’re a salesperson… apparently not a professional one. It makes my blood boil that they make money off of us when they do none of the work other than showing apartments or typing up a standard lease.

OMG! I thought I was the only one treated poorly by Roger. I recently had the worst experience with a broker in Boston to date with Mr. Roger. I was only in town for the weekend to look for places to live in the fall when I start grad school. First off, like many of you mentioned, he demanded to know if I would sign that day before showing me the apartment. I said YES, if I liked the place I would be all in. He was supposed to show me 2 apartments and I met him in front of one apartment building, but he immediately started backpedaling about showing me the second larger, more expensive apt (like we discussed over the phone) I guess its hard to tell race over the phone :-) Suddenly, that apt was just too crappy and just not good enough for me to even bother looking at it, so he said. In addition he proceeded to not show me the 1^st apt. Instead, while I walked around the apt and spoke with the current tenant, Mr. Roger proceeded to take photos of the apt (to list it for other potential leasers I’m assuming) and said not one word about the apartment. He did not try to sell it in any way. When I was leaving I asked how I could proceed with leasing the place since I live out of state at the moment. He said something along the lines of he didn’t know but it might be possible to do it online or via phone. In stark comparison, all the other brokers I spoke to that day eagerly told me that I could apply by phone, fax or email and either gave me their business card and emailed me an application or took my email address. Not Mr. Roger! He also kept stressing that I need to have good credit and be «qualified» and that management is very particular about who they lease to so I would need to have a roommate applying at the same time or I’d likely be denied if I tried to rent the apt (2 bedroom, avg price for Alliston) by myself. He also suggested that any potential roommate should see the apt first (more like be seen by him) before applying. Once again, this was in stark comparison to what other brokers and people who live in the apt building have told me. If I am qualified for apt, there is no reason I should need a roommate to apply for it. Furthermore, if I find a roommate and want to change the lease to add that person, which is also very common in that area, that is allowed as well regardless of whether the person has seen the apt.
Needless to say, I was very offended and even though I loved the apt, have excellent credit, an overqualified co-​signer and the funds to pay for it, I have to think twice about letting someone so foul get a commission out of my money.

TERRIBLE customer service and I was actually threatened via email by one of their agents. They are very pushy and aggressive. With realtors being a dime a dozen in Boston this is by far the last one you should choose. Being homeless might even be a better option.

I had an appointment today with Mike Weafer and it was pretty awful. I have done the whole apartment hunting thing in Boston a number of times before and have gotten great places in Fenway and Kenmore. I only tried Flathound just to make sure I was seeing as many places in Fenway as I could. First of all, I was told that Flathound wouldn’t rent out one bedroom apartments for two people because they don’t want the place to look like a dorm when they show it to future tenants the next year. As such, they only had places in Allston that fit my budget. After he assured me that the buildings he would take me to were safe, well managed, and in a good area, I decided to go just in case. MISTAKE. The guy confused me with another appointment and showed up half an hour late! He didn’t give the tenants any notice that we were coming so they were a little surprised when he knocked. The apartments he showed me were completely filthy and the building had a smell. As I looked into one of the bathrooms (which had a tub that was stained brown and a toilet with a peeling white coating), he exclaimed that it was recently renovated. When I asked him what was renovated, he said that it wasn’t exactly renovated but it had tile which meant it was newer. When I responded with a skeptical look, he said patronizingly, «Oh, you must not have actually looked at other apartments in Boston.» Yeah, except for the eight apartments I saw before coming to Flathound. Don’t bother with this place unless you want over priced Fenway units or Allston apartments that are falling apart and a horrifically late realtor.

Michael Gallagher was one of the most attentive realtors I have worked with. He seems very committed to his job and to working with and for the client. Michael will work with you to find you the apartment that’s right for you and he will go above and beyond to help you.

I had a terrible experience with Roger. He kept asking about a property we had seen earlier in the day with another realtor so he could «steal» it from him, which was a little annoying because we told him we liked the place. He drove us to view a property in Allston, but we weren’t able to see it because he failed to make arrangements with the building management company. Half hour wasted. He was also very negative – he kept telling us we probably wouldn’t find what we were looking for (dog-​friendly, August lease), and didn’t even have places to show us that fit our price range or wishes.
The kicker was the following. We were late to meet with Roger because a viewing we had in the morning ran long (we called to let him know, but I admit we were about an hour late). Because we are from out of town and only had a day to look at places, we crammed in a lot of meetings with realtors. We were on our way to look at another place, and I looked at my watch because we were approaching our next appointment. I told him we had another meeting coming up (it was clear at this point we weren’t about to plunk down thousands of dollars with Roger), and he said «What, you don’t want to be late for your next appointment? You only left me sitting around for an hour and a half.» At this point, we had enough. Roger had a fair point, but a realtor needs to be flexible, and he definitely shouldn’t be sticking it to a potential customer. We told him we were done with him, and left him on the sidewalk.
Bad experience, bad vibes from Roger.
EDIT: I changed my review to two stars because I received an apologetic email from the owner, Michael, shortly after I posted it. This review is for just one agent.

They are the nicest guys! Me and a friend explained to them our financial budgets, and they found us the most GORGEOUS apartment compared to the shitty CLOSET of a room right now (that I’m paying practically the same price for). Normally, every broker I go to shows me really crappy apartments, then saves 1 average one for the last to «wow» me. But every single one Flathound showed me (even the «average» ones) were amazing!
They are also super accommodating! Fees that are usually paid upfront they agreed to split it into a monthly payment because I’m a part-​time student/​part-​time employed. Nobody else would do something like that except Flathound!

Flathound is amazing! They were there to SAVE THE DAY when I moved from San Francisco to Boston to go to grad school and I ended up with the craziest, most insane, terribly awful landlord in the history of all landlords.
Mike found me a gorgeous apartment for the same price, and he was very helpful and super nice. I was very suspicious of the whole realtor process (renters don’t work with realtors in San Francisco the way they do here) but Flathound may just have changed my mind. Mike has this crazy memory-​I told him I liked beer (once) and he henceforth pointed out all notable beer joints near all of the places he was showing me. I said I was a cooker-​he found me a place with a crazy-​cool kitchen in my price range. Since I’m new to the area, he also gave me tons of suggestions for bars that I might like, etc, etc. The whole process was really easy, and Mike is just a joy to work with. The next time you’re in the market for an apartment you should call these guys!

Not very truthful about the properties they are renting you and once they have your money, they act as if contacting them is a nuisance.
I was told my apartment was close to where I would be commuting to every morning. Even when the maps told me differently, I was assured that it was close. I am not from the area so I took their word. Apparently, it takes me double the time to get there and I walk pretty fast.
I was told that my building would be only professionals/​graduate students at most and that they did NOT rent to undergraduates. Later on I find out that several (obvious) undergraduates are living in my building and I am not one to snoop or worry about what other people are doing in my building. I figured it out my the noise coming from upstairs and outside after Sept. 1 and I asked one of my neighbors where they went to school.
There were knats in my shower when I first moved in and the problem has only gotten worse. I’ve seen several flies in my shower since then and there are occasional knats flying around my living area. I’m pretty clean, but I have increased the frequency with which I clean my apartment because of it. I sometimes don’t want to even eat there.
Many other things were promised that were never delivered such as my buzzer being linked to my cell phone (i had to call several times and relay my number several times to get this done). No information when I moved in about who I would pay my electricity to, which internet service is compatible with the building, where to dispose my trash (in some random area 50 – 60 feet from the building). Little information about who I was renting from as far as the landlords go. The owner of Flathound is very nonchalant, disinterested, and sounds almost irritated when he speaks with tenants on the phone (aka unprofessional). Better pretend you’re a perspective renter looking to drop some cash.
I know it’s just their job to lease places, but the misinformation and little help after they got my money really turned me off to them. I would highly NOT recommend them. They’re just as average-​below average as other realtors in the area and are more interested in the dollar than the satisfaction and retention of tenants. Hence, their huge sign in front of one of the buildings they rent in. Very tacky and disheartening to the people actually living in the building. That’s why people are constantly moving in and moving out. My two cents :-D

You know what I like? I like an agent who listens to what I want, who understands the amount of money I want to pay, who makes jokes, and who invites me to parties after the work day. That’s right. Mike Gallagher from Flathound is awesome.
I went to Mike when I was looking for my second apartment, and I said I specifically wanted Hajjar as my management company. That was no problem for him because not only did he live in a Hajjar building, but he also works really closely with them. So I knew I was in good hands. Mike understand my monetary limits, he listened to the requirements of my sister, and when we went to see the apartment, he asked me what I would want changed so that everything would be to my liking for the day I moved in.
Before I went ahead to sign the lease, I asked my mama to come into the city for the day to check out the apartment and to just hang out. Mike rolled out of bed on an early Saturday morning just to meet my Mom and me to see the apartment and get approval from her. She approved, papers were signed, and we all made jokes.
Mike was really great to us. He knows his stuff, he listens, and he’s funny. Great laugh. His brother also works at Flathound, and though he is a little more quiet, he’s a great guy too. Everyone is honest at Flathound, too, so you don’t have to worry about random fees or tiny-​print issues. It’s all out and the open, and they are ready to meet your needs and answer all your questions.
I’ll use Flathound again when I begin the apartment search. They’re fun.